Amused by Books recently posted this survey, and I thought it had some good questions in it, although I decided to cut the survey in half (55 questions seemed a bit long to me). I may post Part Two another time if this is at all interesting.
1. Favorite childhood book?
The Oz series by L. Frank Baum. If I could have traveled to Oz I would have.
2. What are you reading right now?
I just finished Ship Breaker by Paulo Bacigalupi. Debating what to start next.
3. Bad book habit?
I’ve always read too fast, in a rush to see what happens. I don’t savor the words on the page enough and then I miss important details.
4. Do you have an e-reader?
I love, love, love, my Kindle.
5. Do you prefer to read one book at a time, or several at once?
I read a couple at once. I usually have a nightstand book and a Kindle book I’m reading. I try to make sure they are different genres so I don’t confuse the stories. And yet for some reason I often find that something I read in one book shows up in the other book. It’s eerie.
6. Have your reading habits changed since starting a blog?
I read more carefully, I think, and I try harder to read a variety of genres. I’m also reading more classics.
7. Least favorite book you read this year (so far?)
The Passage, because everyone loves it so much and I just didn’t enjoy it. And because it was so long I spent weeks on it and then felt cheated.
8. Favorite book you’ve read this year?
Fahrenheit 451. I somehow missed that one in school and it kind of rocked my world. Also Jennifer Egan’s A Visit from the Goon Squad. I didn’t know what to expect with that one so it was a real surprise.
9. How often do you read out of your comfort zone?
Not too often. I wish I read more nonfiction but I really don’t enjoy it as much.
10. What is your reading comfort zone?
I like to read fiction, historical mysteries, literature, fantasy, some science fiction, children’s and young adult.
11. Can you read on the bus?
Yes! I do most of my reading on the bus. Unfortunately I’m finding myself more easily distracted by conversations around me. So if I sit near two people who are talking, it’s very frustrating.
12. Favorite place to read?
Anywhere in the sun – usually in a chair on my deck, or on the beach (if I’m lucky), or just sitting outside the office at lunch time.
13. What is your policy on book lending?
If I love a book I give it to someone and don’t expect it back. Never lend a book you need back; even the best of us put it on our shelves and forget about it. One of the drawbacks of my Kindle is that I can’t lend books anymore.
14. Do you ever dog-ear books?
A subject of some contention in my house — I don’t, my husband does. He refuses to use a bookmark and gleefully cracks the spines of paperbacks, which makes me cringe. The Kindle eliminates this issue for me.
15. Do you ever write in the margins of your books?
No – writing in a book just feels wrong. I sometimes highlight text on the Kindle.
16. What makes you love a book?
Great characters, smart dialogue, a story that evokes an emotional response, and a book that transports you to another place or time and really shows you what that place or time is like. A book that makes me see something differently or understand something better.
17. Favorite genre?
Probably fantasy. It’s what I loved as a child. Why read about the real world when you can read about magic?
18. Genre you rarely read (but wish you did?)
Biographies and history. I get my minimal historical knowledge from fiction, which I don’t expect to be perfectly accurate. One of my favorite nonfiction books is The Johnstown Flood by David McCullough – I read about the flood in a novel and wanted to know more. It’s a fascinating and very tragic story and all true.
19. Favorite biography?
I get bored quickly with biographies, even though I mean to read them and even if I revere the subject. I own bios about Frank Baum, Dr. Seuss, Thurgood Marshall, and the letters of Sylvia Plath – but I haven’t read any one of those in their entirety. One book I love is Hope in the Unseen, which is about a teenager who grew up in a very poor, very violent DC neighborhood and went to Brown University. Not really a bio but a great book. Sadly, it points out that even if someone gets out of their neighborhood and into a good college, they still face a LOT of challenges.
20. Have you ever read a self-help book?
I’m sure I have but can’t think of one. Does What Color is Your Parachute count?
21. Favorite cookbook?
The New Basics cookbook, which I’ve had since college and make latkes from every year. Newest favorite is Hungry Girl 1-2-3. I don’t cook much and her book is easy and low-cal.
22. Most inspirational book you’ve read this year (fiction or non-fiction)?
Just a Geek by Wil Wheaton. Reminded me to try to stay true to who I am, to do what you love, and to appreciate the great times in your life before they are behind you. And Visit from the Goon Squad reminded me that growing older and changing and settling down are not necessarily bad things. And Middlemarch, because Dorothea is such a strong person.
23. Favorite reading snack?
Popcorn. But I’ll eat anything while I read, which is dangerous for both me and the book (my Kindle has been slopped on many times already).
24. Name a case in which hype ruined your reading experience.
The Kite Runner. Everyone loved it, I was underwhelmed.
25. How often do you agree with critics about a book?
Most of the time – book reviews are so subjective it’s not like there’s a right and wrong. Except for The Passage. Other highly rated books I didn’t like were Atonement by Ian McEwan and Prep by Curtis Sittenfeld. Especially that one.
I just had to comment on #20 because I’m always curious–was it “right”? The only other person I’ve ever had the chance to discuss this book with is someone in my profession–and the book told both of us to go into the profession we are in. Not sure if that was an odd coincidence, or if the book really is that good in guiding people into careers.
Recently I read a few “how to tell what career you should be in” type books, because I keep fantasizing about doing something completely different. Parachute is the best of them, and the most practical. I had the same experience as you. I think it’s like reading horoscopes — they don’t tell you what career to go into, more what kind of person you are, e.g. I need stability and responsibility and clear timelines, and my job has those things so I must be in the right place. I’m waiting for the career book that tells me to open up a bookstore but they all basically tell me the opposite.
Haha! Clearly you have been reading the wrong books. Opening a bookstore sounds like such fun!!
What a fun survey! I think I’ll blog about it too if you don’t mind.
I agree with you on q.18. I rarely read biographies or history books. I’ve started to develop a taste for them though. I’m getting into writer’s diaries. Some famous ones like Virginia Woolf’s and Mary Shelley’s are really good places to start.
Right now I’m reading Anne Frank’s one. And apparently there’s like 5 versions of it. I’m obsessing over tracking down the original, untampered version.